Weather

Despite the constant drizzle of rain, the Maldon Easter Parade was a smashing hit. Large crowds huddled under historic awnings watching the colourful entrants as they braved the wet weather to cheers from onlookers.

A re-elected Coalition Government will invest $38.1 million over the next three years to establish a National Veteran Volunteer Service program in partnership with Disaster Relief Australia (DRA).

“An assistant secretary from the department falsely claimed Tennant Creek’s new weather radar will be complete this year and was unaware the project’s completion has been delayed until 2023 ... At the last round of Senate Estimates in February, I was disappointed to find out only three out of 28 initiatives of the Barkly Regional Deal have been completed since the deal was signed in 2019” : Senator Marlarndirri McCarthy.

The rain keeps falling, the rivers keep rising. There is disbelief that we are flooding again, one month on from the worst floods people in the region had ever seen. Sandra Aarts at the Woodburn Bakery has had to move the shop equipment again. The bakery had only been open for a week and a half.

Researchers, Investors, Project Developers and industry participants all play an important role to scale up ocean carbon project development that will bring new innovation to enable large scale emissions reduction, plus many co-benefits such as biodiversity and jobs.

The author has set himself an enormous task to survey in depth the history of the Surrey Hills district of north-west Tasmania. Fires, Farms and Forests represents the culmination of much detailed and careful research, combined with the author’s extensive personal experience as a forester, and, in particular, his role managing the native grasslands and buttongrass moorlands on Surrey Hills. All this enables the author to weave a story which encompasses both general history as well as specialist insights into the management of land and forests.

Storms which hit Narrandera in January remain vivid in the minds of locals, with flooding still the hot topic of conversation among many who had a first hand experience of the storm disaster ... residents talked about the same things happening back in 2012 and said nothing had changed.

With a large percentage of Queensland experiencing summer rains and continuing La Niña conditions, Queensland sheep and wool producers are being urged to remain vigilant for conditions favouring flystrike.

Narrandera Shire Council Mayor Neville Kschenka was left "frustrated and heartbroken" as he witnessed the damage Narrandera sustained during the weekend storms. On the edge of Narrandera as the storm broke, Cr Kschenka reached the centre of town as the weather event gathered momentum with lashing rain and strong gusts of wind.

Many farmers in the Narrandera area agreed with NSW Farmers Grains Committee chairperson Justin Everitt that this year's harvest had resulted in a ''bumper'' year. Mr Everitt said the "end result" had been positive despite the challenges farmers had faced with worker shortages, high prices for supplies, a mouse plague and wet weather.

More investment in aerial incendiary fire management, greater communication and collaboration between landholder groups and neighbours, and more information about opportunities in the Carbon industry were among some of the key call-outs from the 2021 Fire Forum held in Cairns in December. Organised by Cape York Natural Resource Management, the Forum brought more than 130 people together from Cape York, the Tablelands, Brisbane and Darwin. 

At 3:10pm AEDT on Saturday 15 January 2022 the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano (near Tonga) erupted with a blast so powerful that it caused a shock wave that was heard on Lord Howe Island that evening and reached the other side of the planet.

Hundreds of fish died including Murray Cod, Golden Perch, Bony Herring and Australian Smelt as well as Murray Crayfish in a disastrous black water event in Bundidgerry Creek near Narrandera late last week.

Hepburn Shire Council is continuing to support recovery efforts in the community following a thunderstorm that damaged homes and property in and around Creswick and Clunes on 5 January. “The intensity of this storm caused widespread damage to homes, farms and public land in the west of our Shire. Our preliminary estimates are around $10m of damage to Council assets alone, and around $25m damage to crops” : Hepburn Shire Mayor, Cr Tim Drylie.

With unpredictable weather being experienced due to ex-Tropical Cyclone Tiffany in the north, many might be wondering where Tennant Creek’s new $17 million radar is.

The Murray–Darling Basin Authority has increased the amount of water released from Hume Dam to 17 gigalitres per day to manage inflows from Upper Murray catchments. Hume Dam is effectively full, at 99% capacity.

The federal government has released draft legislation on the reinsurance pool for cyclones and related flood damage which could bring down costs for Cape York residents ...Member for Leichardt Warren Entsch said it was anticipated more than 500,000 residential, strata and small business property insurance policies in northern Australia were expected to be eligible to be covered by the reinsurance pool.

Despite recent flood and rain damage in the eastern states, the ABARES Agricultural Commodities: December Quarter is forecasting a history-making agricultural gross production value of $78 billion – $5.4 billion more than predicted just a few months ago. The value of agricultural exports is forecast to hit a record $61 billion.

It rained all night. And continues today. BOM rain monitor Lyn Walters reported 95mm of rain fell in the last 24 hours to 9am this morning at Green Pigeon in Kyogle LGA. The Bureau of Meteorology has kept the minor flood warning in place for Richmond and Wilsons rivers. The constant rain is causing issues.

NSW Farmers is calling for natural disaster declarations to allow relief funds to flow as torrential rains continue to soak vast parts of the state, causing widespread flood damage. State and federal leaders had pledged to make disaster assistance available to affected communities after flooding in the Lachlan Valley last week, but since then farming regions right across the state had been inundated, with predictions of further flooding in already-drenched areas.